


Let's Get These Teen Hearts Beating Faster, Faster

by voiceoftreas0n



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Kidge Week 2016, Slow Burn, this was mostly self indulgent tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2018-10-27 13:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10809840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voiceoftreas0n/pseuds/voiceoftreas0n
Summary: Getting your idiot childhood friend to go back to school shouldn’t be so hard.The math was simple. Keith was 65% more likely to attend to school if bribed with yakisoba after class. If promised on a regular basis, cranked up to 70%. This would then increase the chances of him staying for the rest of the school year.Or alternatively: wherein which Katie may or may not have given consideration to some other variables like Lance’s loud mouth, Keith’s short temper and the prospect of Lotor being a sneakier bastard than she thought.





	1. Deals and Declarations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [K_Lionheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_Lionheart/gifts).



> So this story serves as my prompt fill for Kidge Week 2016 prompts AU and Home. Heavily inspired by k-lionheart's [Shoujo High School AU](http://k-lionheart-art.tumblr.com/post/154547158574/kidgeweek-day-4-au-the-high-school-shoujo-au) and [manga](https://gakkou-sabisu-ni-iru-manga.tumblr.com/) so all the credit goes to her fo this brainchild. Seriously, go check those out. 
> 
> Title derived from Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off by P!ATD

As she approached her mid-teens, Pidge had accumulated a growing list of things she had slowly been losing self-control over.

At the very top was her sleep schedule, which was already very questionable to begin with but ended up as a lost cause either way. 

Ultimately, her parents and Matt had given up on reprimanding her for staying up until the wee hours of the morning. Katie was nothing if not hardworking and stubborn, so the remaining three-quarters of the Holt household settled for a compromise. 

This took the form of only preparing for the worst in the event that one day their youngest would suddenly drop asleep from dead exhaustion in the middle of a school day. 

Luckily enough that day never came and Katie had number two on the List to thank for that. 

At first, Katie only made sure to drink the bare minimum to keep her awake for classes. 

But  _ oh,  _ coffee was just  _ so  _ good and the energy boost it provided was a bonus for the rich black nectar of the gods she drank at least a solid liter of every day. 

A few other things on the List were more obvious; her penchant for hoarding, her apparent need to be salty and low-key insult someone every day, and her impulse to finish any project she was working on as soon as she could so she could jump onto another project right away. 

And today, Pidge almost considered putting her own voice on the List, fighting back a wince when it had droned up into a screech by the end of the sentence. The would-have-been wince was eventually replaced with her face twisting in confusion.  

“You want me to do  _ what _ ?”

If Allura was just as disturbed by the tonal change, she didn’t show it. Instead, she lifted a hand to silence Katie before she could sputter out a ramble.

(Though if she had to be honest, the gesture was more fitting of a queen than that of a Student Council President but nonetheless.)

“I want you to convince Keith to come back to school,” Allura repeated calmly.

The other girl shook her head, pigtails rustling against the fabric of her uniform blazer as she did.   “No, I heard you the first time, Pres. Just…” Katie let out a sigh. “ _ Why _ ?”

Allura blinked. “Well if he still won’t attend class even after his suspension’s been lifted, he’ll eventually get expelled-“

"No, I mean why  _ me _ ?” Pidge gestured to her entire upper body for emphasis.

Yes, Keith may be her best friend and but she wasn’t his damn  _ nanny _ .

She dropped her hands back down. “Why not Shiro? You know, his older brother?”

And dammit - there were other, more practical options who could talk Keith out of his stupid emo pilgrimage within the confines of his filthy bedroom.

“Do you think I’d have come to you if I  _ hadn’t _ tried asking Shiro?” Allura’s response came with a surprising amount of snark and the smallest trace of exhaustion. “Lance is out of the question and Hunk is too busy with his clubs so I couldn’t impose.” She dropped her hand back to the table. “And besides, you’re very close to each other as is, considering both your older brothers are friends.”  

“So because Shiro and Matt are best friends that makes us close by default?”

Well.

It wasn’t necessarily a false assumption. They may not be all that obvious but she and Keith were the closest pair in their circle of friends. 

But that didn’t mean she had to be the one to drag his sorry ass out of his own home.

Though…

The  _ Would You Be So Kind as to Stop Giving Me Bullshit  _ look Allura was giving made Pidge slump in defeat with a heavy sigh.

One day she will learn to say no to her President’s requests.

.

.

.

“Well? You’re the only one I could trust for this, Pidge.”

.

.

.

But today will not be that day.

Suppressing another sigh and a roll of her eyes, Pidge nodded.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

* * *

 

For as long as Katie could remember, Matt and Shiro were the best of friends ever since the Holts moved into the same neighborhood. By extension, Shiro was one of her best friends too.

When the Shiroganes took Keith in as their legal ward a year later, she and her brother were just as eager to have him too.

Pidge couldn’t fight back a smile at the memory of a then five-year-old Keith hiding behind a seven-year-old Shiro when the latter introduced him to her and Matt for the first time.

The smile soon digressed into a wince when she also remembered how her first interaction went. 

The memory was a little hazy now that she was older, but it involved Keith pulling at her pigtails, which then resulted in her crying to Mommy for the rest of the day. The inner montage ended with the image of Keith apologizing with a bunch of daisies he had haphazardly plucked (from their own garden, nonetheless) after Shiro’s insistence.

Kindergarten years were really intense, apparently.

But nonetheless an unlikely friendship between friends and siblings was born.

Matt had been more than willing to set the hair pulling incident aside and instantly welcomed Keith in, eagerly teaching Keith their Super Secret Handshake and letting him join in all the games without so much as batting an eye.

And while Pidge took a little more time to get along with Keith, Shiro couldn’t have been more grateful.

Keith had been so shy and so full of childish rage that looking back, Katie found to be actually kinda adorable.

Sadly, he never seemed to have grown out of that aspect of his childhood. Sure, he became a little less hot-tempered as they grew older but that didn’t mean his fuse grew any  _ shorter _ .

Especially not when Hunk and Lance joined their little bunch a little after they all started middle school.

And as Katie’s toys were soon replaced with little robots and tools (and puberty started to make things really, really awkward; they both agreed to never speak about the time they discovered her first period), Keith started getting himself into stupid scuffles.

Not just Lance-tier, fighting over bragging rights stupid.

More like  _ trifling with a gang _ kind of stupid.

_ Getting into a fight in the middle of the school’s opening event _ stupid.

_ Getting his ass suspended for a whole month on the first week of school _ stupid. 

In all his defense, Lotor and his stupid cronies started the whole thing with all the harassment.

They didn’t even  _ go  _ to their school, but Altea was open to guests that day and Pidge figured they must’ve used that advantage to taunt Keith.

So while he never got around to telling her what exactly it was all about, Pidge figured it was something he took personally.

_ Really _ personally.

Personal enough to lead him into sucker punching the asshole into an innocent club’s booth and beating the crap out of the other goons until Shiro, Hunk  _ and _ Lance had to physically hold him back. 

The situation was then diffused by Student Council President Allura when she politely (read: very terrifyingly) asked Lotor and his schoolmates to leave the school premises.

The bastards scrammed out without another word.  

A trip to the infirmary and a meeting with the principal later, Keith was suspended off school grounds for damage to property and misconduct for the next month.

It wasn’t all too bad, Allura reasoned. If she hadn’t put in a word for him as Student Council President Keith could’ve been expelled.  

So yeah, a month out of school didn’t really put a strain in their friendship.

They still kept in touch, obviously, random texts here, late night talks in their group chat that last early in the morning there. A couple movie marathons if Katie wasn’t so busy with her extra-curricular activities over the weekend, maybe even dinner at their usual yakisoba joint if the schedule would allow it.

It wasn’t all too bad. 

.

.

.

Except for the fact that Keith still hadn’t returned to school even after his suspension had expired.

That had been two weeks ago.

And then Keith’s replies to her messages had gotten shorter and shorter until eventually none came at all. When Pidge asked Shiro what was going on, she was answered with a solemn smile and a shrug of defeat.

This concerned her.

And as of late, it concerned Allura and  the rest of the school’s disciplinary board too.

So here Katie was, standing in front of the Shirogane-Kogane residence and fighting every urge to run back to the last three blocks to her own house. It would’ve been more practical if she had tagged along with Shiro on the way home, but she got held up with a last minute meeting with the IT Club.

Perks of being one of the only active members, she supposed.

Katie let out a sigh as she hesitantly brought her hand up to ring the doorbell and waited a beat.

Two.

Three.

The door opened to reveal a Shiro who seemed very glad to see her.

“Katie!”

She couldn’t help to smile at the use of her real name. “Hey, Shiro.”

He stepped to the side to make room for her to enter.

“Where’s Keith?” she asked as she toed off her shoes.

“In his room.”

Katie padded into the small living room and set her school bag on their couch. “Has he been there the whole time?”

“I hate to say it, but yes.” Shiro made his way over to the kitchen. “Staying over for dinner?”

Katie shook her head, and Shiro nodded in understanding. “Promised Mom I wouldn’t stay out too late tonight.” She looked around. “I’m here on Allura’s orders by the way.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Which brings up the question,” she said as she made her way over to him from across the kitchen counter and set her palms on the polished marble.

“What makes her think that I have any chance of talking sense into him?”

Shiro blinked. “You two are close.”

“You’re his  _ brother _ .”

The boy before her only winced.  “Yeah, he has a habit of not listening to people.”

“And you guys honestly think he’d listen to  _ me _ ?”

Shiro only said nothing as he reached across the counter to boop her nose. Katie scowled.

“It’s worth a shot.” He said as he turned back to the crockpot he was cooking, ending the conversation.

_ Traitor _ . 

“Fine.” She grumbled as she trudged her way over to the door she knew to belong to Keith’s room.

Hesitantly she knocked.

There was no response.

She tried again.

Still silence.

Sighing, Katie grabbed the knob and went in, blinking at darkness Keith kept his room in. She groped the wall for the light switch.

She had to blink again to readjust to the sudden onslaught of light, revealing the disarrayed mess of furniture and disposable meals that was Keith’s room.   

“Keith?”

She heard a string of grumbles and thuds before his head popped out from behind his bed.

“Pidge?”

Keith, in all his ratty shirt and boxer shorts-clad glory, slowly got up from the floor.

_ Why the hell was he sleeping on the floor?  _ Katie thought, sparing a glance at his bed.

It was nowhere to be found. Instead in its usual place was a mountain of dirty laundry.

She wrinkled her nose at the sight before taking the image of Keith in.

His hair was an untamed mess, most likely from being unwashed for the last couple days.

Or weeks. Katie wasn’t very sure.  

She looked around, taking in the sight of the leaning tower of takeout yakisoba boxes and dirty disposable utensils on his desk. Katie turned back to him with a lifted brow.

“Good to see you’ve done some spring cleaning.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered as he started picking up… _ things _ off his floor. Katie lifted a hand. 

“No, don’t bother. I won’t be here for long.” She set aside some clothes off his bed so she could sit. “Allura sent me.”

“Lemme guess,” he dropped his hand and the garbage that he held in it to flop down beside her. “She wanted me to come back to school?”

She nodded once. “Pretty much.”

“Nope, not doing it.”

“Keith,” she warned.

“Look, Pidge.” He shifted around so he was sitting Indian-style on his bed. “When I first got suspended I was pissed.”

“You’re always pissed.”

“Shut up. Anyways, I was just angry.”

“But you’re always angry.”

He threw her a look. Katie only grinned.

“Okay, basically I spent most of my time away thinking.”

“About your anger?”

“No. Wait, actually yes. Stop butting in.”

“Sorry.” She turned so that one leg laid bent on his bed as he faced him, mindful of the amount of leg she was showing even with the cycling shorts underneath.

_ Stupid uniform skirts _ .

She tugged the fabric down a little before turning back up to him.

“You were saying?”

“Okay. So I thought back on what got me suspended. I don’t know, being away from routine left me lost.”

“Lost how?”

“Can’t explain it. I’m sure of one thing though.”

“Which is?”

“I’m never stepping foot in that damn establishment again.”

Katie didn’t hesitate to whack his forehead with the back of her hand.

“Ow!”

She scowled. “You can’t actually be serious.”

“I am.”

She smacked him again. “No, you’re not.” She dropped her hand. “What even brought that on?”

“Gut feeling.”

“Keith.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not joking, honest.” His hands dropped back to his lap with a muted thud. “It’s just…lately I’ve been getting myself into stupid stuff.”

“That’s for damn sure.”

“And I realized that most of the stupid crap I get myself into had a high correlation with me seeing Lotor’s stupid face and him not fucking off.”

“Okay..?” Pidge’s voice trailed off at the real life application of terms from last year’s Statistics class.

Who would have thought? 

“So I figured if I dropped off the radar for a bit, maybe Lotor and his stupid minions would get off my back.”

“So basically you’re just laying low and skipping class…” she said slowly, “…to test a hypothesis?”

The question answered with a nod.  

“It’s well within the acceptance region.”

Pidge wrinkled her nose again. “I don’t think you can put a z-score on something as unstable as Lotor’s stupidity.”

“Doesn’t matter. I really just don’t want anything more to do with him.”

“So you’re just gonna ditch school just like that?”

“Pretty much.”

Leave it to Keith to make stupidly rash decisions.

“And you didn’t tell Shiro this because?”

“He’d tell Pres. I don’t want the rest of the school getting caught up with my personal beef.”

“They already  _ are _ .” She snapped. “You do realize you don’t actually have to ditch school to ditch Lotor, right?”

“It’s safer that way.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why does it only seem like you’re looking for an excuse to ditch school?”

Keith threw her a scowl. “No, I’m not.”

“Then come back.”

“And if Lotor starts being a dick again? What if you and the others get involved?”

“Then be the better man and ignore him.” Her hand moved to pat his knee. “The biggest blow to anyone’s ego is to not bother with them at all. Makes them feel insignificant.”

“Pidge…” 

“Come on, for me?” She then quickly added before Keith could retort, “we can go for yakisoba afterwards for the next week. My treat.”

He was silent for a moment, and Katie fought the urge to panic.

.

.

.

_ Why the hell did I say that? _

_. _

_. _

_. _

And suddenly he nodded.

.

.

.

“Deal.” 

.

.

.

Katie had no idea what kind of mess she had just gotten herself into as they shook hands.

As soon as they let go, they fell back in comfortable silence. Their… _ exchange _ finished a lot quicker than Pidge could’ve estimated.

There was no rush to get back home yet.

“Since you’re here and all,” Keith started sheepishly beside her.

Katie couldn’t help but be wary. She knew that tone of voice anywhere.

“Mind helping me clean up?”

_ On second thought _ .

“Nope.” And before Keith could call her for treason Katie jumped off his bed and booked it, narrowly missing his calls after her as she sped into the hall.

* * *

 

The crockpot was just about ready when Shiro heard a unmistakable sound of Keith’s door slamming open and Pidge’s laughter as she whirred past the living room and grabbed her bag off the couch. 

“Bye Shiro see you tomorrow!” she called. 

And then she was gone. 

No more than two seconds after the door shut behind her, Keith emerged from the hall and padded into the kitchen. 

Shiro raised a brow. 

“Good to have you back, buddy.” 

Keith threw him a scowl. “Yeah, yeah,” he yawned. 

“I guess Allura was right calling Katie in.” Shiro transferred the crock pot's contents into a bowl with a ladle. 

“I guess.” 

“She got you out of your room, didn’t she?” Shiro said without looking up from the counter. 

He didn’t have to do that to notice the red flush that went up his brother’s face as he sat himself at the table. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **EDIT (17.10.17)** So after much scrutiny, I figured that I wanted to reconstruct everything I've written so far to fit plot points and other details I conjured up a little too late and because I was plainly dissatisfied with the first couple chapters.


	2. Classes and Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein which Shiro is busy, Keith is sleepy, Lance is a loudmouth and Hunk is an angel as per usual.

“Quit scowling.” Katie scolded as she bopped the top of Keith’s head with the folder she was carrying.

“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled, unfazed by her blow.

It was still early in the morning, much too early, but that was only because it was Monday and any time of day on a Monday was too early for anything. Keith only squinted at the sunlight as it beat down his face and hunched forward with his hands jammed into his jacket pockets.

_Probably been a while since he’s seen the sun_ , Katie snorted to herself as she put the folder back in her bag.

“Can you at least _pretend_ that you’re ready to murder the next person who breathes in your direction?”

He threw her a look. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

“You’d get to see the others again. And you’re only getting yakisoba if you stay the whole day.”

Keith stopped in his tracks. Katie followed suit, only out of curiosity. She watched as he sighed before straightening up.

The pops his back made were actually _audible_.   

“Fine.” He yawned before he continued his pace with a little more speed, and Katie struggled to keep up. “But only for the yakisoba.”

Katie grinned as she fell back into step with him, then mentally calculated how big of a dent eating out would make in her already fleeting allowance would leave.

Maybe she shouldn’t have splurged on all that new gear last week.  

The rough estimate alone was enough to make her eyes widen.

… _and that was just for Keith alone._

The remainder of her equation dwindled down to the single digits.

_Aw, shit._

.

.

.

It was from there they slid into comfortable silence. There’s only the two of them, the occasional jogger who’d pass them by with a nod of acknowledgment and a couple more blocks and turns before they reached the school gate. Shiro was usually with them on their morning walks but today Keith said his brother left a note on the fridge saying he had to show up an hour earlier for a class project.

Silence was a natural state in Katie’s friendship with Keith. Unlike for most people it didn’t stem from the sudden shortage of things to talk about or an off-handed comment or shyness. It was simply in their nature to be reserved, even around each other. They were just quiet because they wanted to be.

The quiet was nice. Peaceful. Companionable, even.

And both felt that no one understood it better than the other.

This left the rest of their walk to school a little less climactic.  

.

.

.

At least until they reached the gate.

They were barely even ten feet from it when Lance’s voice boomed into their ears.

“And so the Mullet finally returns!” he hollered as he sauntered over to them. Hunk was ever quick to follow behind him.

“Can you not be so loud in the morning?” Was Keith’s curt greeting.

Katie fought back another snort at the sight of Lance’s shocked face. His jaw limply hung off and his eyes were the size of the moon. He looked as if Keith might as well have been part alien or something.

“Hey Keith, good to see you, man!” Hunk’s voice came as the sudden diffuser for the situation. 

Whatever hostility Keith harbored seem to have died in his throat as he let out a small yelp when Hunk pulled him in for a bone-crushing hug. Those weren’t for the faint of heart, after all.

Katie fought back a snicker at the sight of her childhood friend. He was never really a fan of affection to begin with but the knowledge of that fact didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to find the deer in the headlights look to be an amusing one on Keith’s face.

As soon as Hunk took his arms off him, Keith took in a massive gulp of air.

“Good to see you too.” He managed to gasp with a weak smile.

Hunk gave back his own smile, the sun’s rays beating down from the back of his head in a golden halo around him.  

Katie felt her skin clear.

Her crops were watered.

Her faith in humanity has been restored.

Nothing was a more beautiful sight than seeing the literal personification of the sun that was Hunk on a day as miserable as Monday.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Keith shared the notion, his weak smile cracking into a full grin.

_Good start for the day_.

.

.

. 

Lance didn’t seem to feel the same, though.

“Guess being suspended for a month and a half isn’t enough to make you stop being a dick.”

“And me being away from you for a month and a half still doesn’t make me not find you annoying.”

It was here that Katie decided to drone out their conversation and started walking through the gate, and Hunk was ever quick to follow suit. The two gave each other a glance. That was the sign that they have made the silent unanimous decision to leave the other two be as they squabbled.

Apparently not even the growing distance between them and the rest of their friends was enough to make Keith and Lance stop.

Though it _was_ hilarious to see their feet move in perfect sync as they kept throwing verbal jab after jab at each other until they reached the floor of their classrooms.

And despite the vein that was seconds from bursting against her skull, Katie fought back a grin.

It was _so_ good to have him back.

* * *

 

Keith ended up sleeping through most of their morning classes.

Which was actually a _way_ better development than Katie could’ve ever hoped for. At least he was _in_ the classroom for the most part, and a hell of a lot quieter, leaving her more than able to give nothing but her full attention to the lecture instead of listening to the nagging voice in the back of her mind to keep an eye on him.

If he ends up flunking then it’s _his_ loss.

The teachers didn’t really seem to mind either, probably because they were probably accustomed to Keith’s absence for so long. They still went along with lectures, asked questions and called on students who weren’t Keith or obviously avoiding eye-contact and constantly reminded every one of the upcoming midterm exams.

The only real difference was that Keith’s chair was occupied by the boy in question, albeit dead asleep and drooling over his desk.

Ah yes, the educational system at its finest.

After the last morning class ended and Professor Montgomery excused herself from the room, Katie turned to Keith and mentally counted the seconds before the lunch bell would ring and startle him awake.

Three.

Two.

One.

The bell let out its usual shrill chime. Everyone started chatting up a storm and from her peripheral Katie could see the students piling out of their classrooms through the window.

And Keith was still asleep.

Since when did he become such a heavy sleeper?

Sighing, Katie got up from her desk and walked over to him to press a finger to his cheek.

“Keith,”

She was responded with a burbled grumble.

“Keith,” she tried again with another poke. And another. And another.

“Wake _up_.”

His hand had wrapped around hers before she was able to poke him a fifth time.

“I’m up, I’m up.” He mumbled, lifting his head off the table.

Katie snorted at the red patch on his forehead. “Good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty. Did your drool make a good pillow?”

On instinct, Keith reached up with his other hand to the corner of his mouth where a very fresh and very _wet_ trail of drool kept dripping to wipe it off. “Yeah, yeah.”

There was no mistaking the slight flush of his cheeks. “Guess I’m just really out of routine.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Her hand was still in his, so she figured she might as well tug him to stand up. “Come on, it’s lunch.”

.

.

.

They later find themselves in their usual spot at the back of the cafeteria as they waited for Lance and Hunk to return from the line. Shiro texted saying he would catch up as soon as he was done with random Class Rep duties and Allura said she was taking a working lunch with the rest of the student council. 

“Oh yeah,” Katie said after swallowing a bite of sandwich. “I have a meeting with the IT Club after school so you might have to sit tight for a while.”

“S’no problem. Not like I haven’t already been doing that to begin with.”

Well. Katie just plainly forgot. Or maybe she just wanted to make sure that he didn’t as well. Shrugging, she reached for her water bottle.

“You should seriously just join a club already.” She said before twisting the cap and taking a drink.

Keith only scowled.

She narrowed her eyes at him as she lowered her bottle. “You know every student is required to join a club at the start of the school year. But since you were gone for most of the first term I’m pretty sure they’d accept a late application or whatever.”

“I’ll think about it.” He muttered before digging into his food. 

“So the lone wolf finally decided he wanted to make some friends?” Lance chimed in as he took a seat beside Katie. “If you want, we have an opening in the Basketball Club. Figured we could use another benchwarmer.”

“The Home Economics club is happy to accept some new members too.” Hunk added as he sat down.

From where she sat, Katie barely saw the hint of a smile that started cracking on Keith’s face.

“Thanks, guys.”

From there conversation comfortably to another topic as it usually did when the four of them were together.

Shiro showed up not too long after with a ruffle of Katie’s hair as he sat down beside her.

“How was class?”

“He was asleep for most of it,” Katie replied without missing a beat.

Keith flashed her a look that showed nothing but complete and utter betrayal. 

_Traitor,_ his eyes seemed to tell her.

She responded by sticking her tongue out. _It’s still true._  

“I’d normally be disappointed in you but,” Shiro still let out a heavy sigh, shoulders rising and dropping under the weight of his breath.  “Well, at least you’re in class nowadays.”

“He was practically swimming in his own drool before the bell rang though.”

“Shut up, Pidge.”

The words were clipped and with his usual degree of tactlessness, but there was no missing the small grin still plastered on his face as lunch went on.

.

.

.

They all went their separate ways with ten minutes to spare before the next class. Shiro once again found himself tangled up in another group project and Lance and Hunk said their next period was handled by Professor Iverson and they wanted to be early for it.

Figuring that there was no rush, Keith decided to stop by the vending machines on their floor.  

“What are you getting? Coffee?” Katie asked as he stepped in front of the machine. She eyed the can for a second then deciding against it to salvage as much of her allowance as she could for later.

He let out a yawn as he shook his head. “Not in the mood for caffeine. Probably an orange soda.”

Katie rested a shoulder on the side of the machine. “You still sleepy?”

“Yep.” He said as he stuck his hand into his trouser pockets for loose change.

Katie took the time to observe the dark circles under his eyes as he put the money in.

To say that Keith looked like a mess would be an understatement. His hair, while always disheveled to begin with, fell limply against his skull and curled up in weird places, with a few strands growing out and almost getting in the way of his eyes. _He should at least tie that back_ , Katie mused. She probably has some extra hair ties floating around the bottom of her bag somewhere.

There was also something off about the way he wore his uniform. It wasn’t like he forgot to wear his pants or anything, nor did he carry himself like the model student Shiro was; he just looked sloppier than usual. His dress shirt wasn’t properly tucked in and his trousers were wrinkled in places they usually shouldn’t be.

He probably didn’t sleep well that night and dragged himself out of bed and put on his uniform without so much as showering.

And judging by his record of yawning almost every five minutes, Katie figured she was right.

He’d probably end up sleeping for the rest of the day too at that rate.

Keith’s finger was right above the button for orange soda when Katie chimed in.

“You’re only getting yakisoba if you stay awake for the rest of the day.”

It was only supposed to be a ploy so that she wouldn’t have to stretch out whatever was left of her allowance for bribery but it actually _worked_.

Grumbling, Keith pressed the button for the black coffee.

The machine let out a couple metallic thonks before letting the can fall to the bottom tray.

“Get me one too?” she asked as Keith reached down for his drink.

Nodding, Keith grabbed the change before putting it back in the coin slot along with a couple more coins and pressed for a second can.

Katie only grinned.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a still a little slow on the plot but I wanna try updating with only days in between instead of my usual sched of updating after weeks. Hence the choppy chapters. Thanks for reading!


	3. Restaurants and Rambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein which Keith and Katie spend some quality time at their favorite yakisoba joint and Coran is a hopeless romantic.

The IT Club meeting later that day was a doozy.

Apparently, the school requested a new layout for the school website, with the initial draft of coding of their demanded design due Friday that week and the launch due in two weeks’ time.

Literally the week before midterm exams.

All while they had a competition to train for and school programs to provide technical assistance to the week after.

_Stupid school administration._

Katie entertained the idea of hacking the school’s website for the remainder of the meeting until they were all dismissed and piled out of the room.

_I’ll have it automatically play_ All-Star _in the background with no means of pausing. Or better yet_ What’s New Pussycat? _Or maybe just change all the links so they lead to_ Never Gonna Give You Up.

All meme-related playlist ideas for her website hacking soon fade away when she found Keith waiting for her at the end of the hall.

“You could’ve just waited for me at the gate, you know.” She didn’t even bother stopping in front of him as she turned the corner and headed straight down the stairs.

Keith was quick to fall into step beside her. “Would’ve been easier to find you if I just waited here.”

 At this, she turned to him with a raised brow. “Cellphones are a thing, you know. Or did you totally forget about that after spending a couple weeks as a hermit?”

The words had enough salt in them to sustain the oceans but the grin she gave in companion to it was sickeningly sweet.

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith muttered before sliding down the banister when they were less than a couple steps from the ground floor.

“Show off,” Katie grumbled under her breath.

Keith only smirked. “Jealous?”

“Blegh.” She scoffed as she skipped the last step altogether to bunny hop to the ground floor. She totally could’ve done that too.

Stupid uniform skirts.

.

.

.

“I’m taking back my treat, I swear to God.” Katie groaned as they left the school’s main building.

“Nah, you won’t do that.” 

“Yeah, yeah. It’s not like it’s been ages since I’ve been to the Castle anyway.” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and turned to Keith.

Katie couldn’t help but furrow her brows in curiosity.

He had slowed his pace, and his focus wasn’t on her or anything she said.

Instead, Keith was fully fixated on some space behind them.

“Everything alright?” she asked, tapping his shoulder with the back of her hand.

He only narrowed his eyes before turning back to her, the tension in his shoulders easing as they dropped in his usual slouch.

“Nothing.” And just like that, he moved at his original pace.

Despite the want to probe further, Katie decided to drop the topic.    

_He must still be on edge with all that crap with Lotor._  

And in silence did the remainder of their walk sink itself in.

.

.

.

It didn’t take long for the building came into view.

The Castle was a small restaurant just a couple blocks north of the school. Katie, Keith and the rest of their friends discovered the place not too long ago when they collectively offered (read: were forcibly roped in by Lance’s constant whining) to look for a lost cat and ended up literally _stumbling_ into the establishment in a heap.

It was there that they met Allura, the then new girl at school and her uncle Coran, the middle-aged man who ran the place.

After some much-needed introductions and reassurances (and not to mention a lot of eye-rolls at Lance’s futile attempts at flirting with Allura), the two agreed to help their search and promise not to bother them again.  

They later find out that the cat had been making a home of the Castle’s dumpster with a litter of kittens.

Coran then offered to give each of them the place’s signature yakisoba on the house for their efforts.

One bite was all it took before they got hooked on the food.  

Since then it became their go-to place for just about anything. Random hang-outs, study sessions, after-exam treats and even for special events like someone’s birthday.

What struck them odd was that aside from them there weren’t many other people who ate at the Castle very often, save for the occasional senior citizen who lived nearby and maybe a couple tourists who got lost and decided to eat there as a last resort.

It took a moment for them to realize the fact yet a shorter moment for them to know that they didn’t mind at all. This just meant the Castle was all their own.

It was their home.   

And home it did feel like as the bell above Keith and Pidge’s head let out a joyful chime, signaling their entrance.

On cue, Coran’s red-haired head emerged from the counter. He smiled and waved jovially.

“Haven’t seen you in quite a while.”

Keith managed a nod. “Same here.”

“Hey, Coran.” Katie greeted as she slid into their usual booth by the window. “The usual for me.”

“Same goes for you, Keith?” the older man asked as he headed back to the kitchen.

Keith nodded as he occupied the seat opposite Katie.

From where they sat they noticed Coran pouring their glasses of water. “Anything for drinks?”

“Orange soda.”

“Iced coffee with milk.”

“Coming right up!”

Coran emerged from the kitchen to set their glasses on the table.

“Your food should be done in a couple ticks.” He flashed them a salute before heading back to the kitchen.

Katie half-heartedly saluted back before slouching in the chair.

“So the meeting a while ago.” Keith started as he picked up his water. “You took longer than usual. What’s up?”

“Iverson requested that we reformat the school website.” 

“Is that going to be a problem?”

Katie took in a deep breath. “The initial draft is due this Friday and they have _me_ heading the project, which is ridiculous when they demanded that it should be launched in two weeks! Literally the _week_ before midterms! We still have a competition to train for, dammit, and everyone is still green ever since Taylor and the others from her batch graduated last year so we have to double time with catching up when we already committed to assisting the AV club with the other events too, like sure, we could’ve functioned well if we split into teams but Slav insisted that everyone should have at least contribute once to any school event and now we’re all over the place trying to equally distribute the work and a lot of the other members said they have other duties with their other clubs and what if we fail? What if we end up not meeting the school’s standard for the draft and end up not launching in time? What if we don’t actually launch at all?!”

.

.

.

Keith blinked.

.

.

.

“You’re stressed.”

 “No shit.” Katie wiped a trail of moisture one her glass with her finger. “The school admin is evil.”

Her nostrils were suddenly invaded by the smell of yakisoba and grilled meat accompanied by Coran’s voice.

“Here you go.” He said as he set their trays on the table.

She and Keith nodded gratefully.

“Thanks, Coran.”

“Looks great.”  

Coran smiled. “Anytime. Yell if you need anything!” And just like that, the man headed back to the counter.

As soon as their server disappeared, Keith didn’t hesitate to dig in. Katie only wrinkled her nose. “Slow down, cowboy.”

He slurped and swallowed a wad of noodles. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Carefully, Katie grabbed her chopsticks and pulled her tray closer to her and leaned down a little, smiling at the heightened aroma of grilled meat and rice. The gesture made a couple stubborn locks of hair escape the elastic confines of her right pigtail.

Unconsciously, she brushed the strands to the back of her ear.

It was then she realized it was silent.

A little too silent.

At this, Katie looked up.

.

.

.

Keith was watching her.

.

.

.

“What?” she demanded. 

.

.

.

“You’re growing a zit.” He said through a mouthful of noodles.  

_._

_._

_._

_Gee, like I didn’t know that already, asshole_.

.

.

.

She scowled. “I hate you.”

.

.

.

Keith grinned. “Yeah, yeah.”

.

.

.

Soon Katie found herself grinning as well.

.

.

.

There was no point in staying mad at this boy. 

.

.

.

It was just so good to have him back.

.

.

.

Both of them missed the fond, almost wistful look in Coran’s eyes as he watched them from the kitchen.

“Are you still under the impression that they’re together?”

The older man turned to see his niece standing behind him. Allura must’ve let herself in through the back door. She let out a hum as she took out her hair out of her bun, letting it fall in messy waves of ivory against her back and shoulders. “I doubt things will progress with these two.”

“Is it wrong to hope it will?”

He watched as Keith reached over the table to flick Pidge in the forehead, who all but scowled in response and adjusted her glasses before flicking him back. 

“You know they’re only best friends, right?”

At this, Coran gave his niece a small smile. “That doesn’t lessen the chances, dear.”

When Allura cocked her head to the side in curiosity, the man let the smile widen to a full grin.

“How else did you think your mother and father got together?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In other news: I still don't know how to do pacing in short chapters. Oh well. Thanks for reading!
> 
> [Follow me on tumblr? ](http://hearmyvoiceoftreason.tumblr.com/)


	4. Scores and Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein which Keith is a genius, Katie is stressed out and Lance and Hunk master the art of taking photos undeteced.

The rest of the term passed by in a blur and in between studying for midterm exams and doing her assigned club work, if Katie had to be honest she barely even remembered most of it.

At first, she thought that all that time being apart would put some sort of strain on her friendship with Keith.

A month and a half was a long time, after all.

Sure, the first month was sort of okay with all the communication and occasional hang outs but nothing really beat constant physical contact. It also didn’t help that he practically wiped off the face of the earth the two weeks after. 

People change. Not all friendships survive random break offs like that.

.

.

.

Apparently, Katie couldn’t be more wrong.

The two of them fell back into step of their usual routine without a hitch.

They’d walk to school together with Shiro, meet up with Hunk and Lance at the gate and hang around a bit before the warning bell sounded. Classes consisted of giving each other a knowing annoyed glance as they droned out whatever stupid anecdote a certain annoying teacher had to say and smirking behind textbooks whenever Professor Slav rambled off topic from the actual lesson. Sometimes after class and club meeting, they'd take the time to eat out at the Castle and invite the others whenever they were up to for it too, even after Katie's deal of free yakisoba for a week had already expired.  

A month and a half did no change whatsoever.

Keith still got himself into stupid squabbles with Lance, still waited for her to be done with whatever club meetings she had so they could go home together…they were still the closest of friends, and she couldn’t be more grateful.

Katie let out a sigh as she waded past her schoolmates, narrowly missing the random girl who jumped for joy at the sight of her test scores. Midterm exams had been the week before, and now the school put up the scoreboard to gloat about their best and brightest and further stab the pride of those who didn’t quite make the cut.

She snorted. At the moment she was alone only because Keith had business with the guidance counselor, most likely with regards to his suspension and how he had been holding up since his return to school.

Though if Katie had to be brutally honest, they could’ve just asked her instead.

She practically knew the boy like the back of her hand.

Granted, Katie did forget a couple factors about Keith’s personality that she was only fully aware of if he was actually around him.

Like how he actually had perfect table manners for a guy who barely even washes his hair.

“Excuse me,” she muttered as she squeezed past all the people hoarded in front of the score board.

Or the fact that deep down, Keith was actually smart.

She found her footing and let out a heavy breath as she finally reached the very front.  

Like _really_ smart.  

.

.

.

Smart enough to rival even her own grades.

.

.

.

A breath later she adjusted her glasses and looked up.

**YEAR 2**

**1\. HOLT, KATHERINE – 499/500**   
**2\. KOGANE, KEITH – 498/500**

Only to scowl at the board in front of her.

“Huh.”

Katie turned to find Keith stepping beside her. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“Didn’t see _what_ coming?”

“Could’ve sworn I boxed my answers in the last two problems. You know how Iverson is strict with the method for solving.” His eyes flitted from to board to her. “Guess he wasn’t kidding about one point for boxing the final answer.”

She whirred on him so fast her glasses almost slipped off her nose.

“How?” she asked, arms frantically waving. “You were out of school for a solid month and a half!”

Keith blinked. “That coming from the girl who got accelerated straight into elementary school instead of going through kindergarten?”

_Touché._

“Fine.” She mumbled as she turned around and waded out of the crowd.  

Keith caught up behind her. “Also Shiro is a really good tutor.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

.

.

.

“You wanna celebrate?”

“Hell yeah I do.” She found her footing and took a deep breath after being suffocated by the crowd, then turned to him with a smile. “Castle?”

He grinned back at her.

“Did you even have to ask?”

* * *

The Friday on the week after exams usually meant a general assembly and free period for the rest of the day so students could focus on extra-curricular activities and other projects.

Keith was skipping class. Sure it was free period, but they still had an attendance sheet to fill in.

Katie noticed this as soon as she re-entered the classroom before lunch ended to find his seat empty.

And it stayed empty for the next period.

She bit back a sigh and slowly reached for her phone in her pocket after hitting save on the coding she was currently cleaning up.

Fingers were quick as they typed in her text.

**_Where the hell are you_ **

She hit send then let out a yawn.

Started cursing the school admin for their ridiculous requests rendering her sleepless and grouchy.

Waited a beat.

Two.

Her phone beeped.  

**_Rooftop. Sleeping._ **

The rooftop.

Of course.

How much more cliché can this dork get?

**_How long do you plan to stay up there?_ **

She waited for his reply. Took a chug off the canned coffee she had by her desk, then scowling when she finished it.

His reply never came.

_Ugh_.

Without a second thought, she shut her laptop closed, grabbed the can, asked the class rep to text her before the next attendance signing and headed out the classroom.

Testing her luck, Katie tried shooting for the trashcan while it was still a good ten feet away.

Much to her delight, the can shot right in.

Grinning to herself, she turned to the stairs and made her way up to the roof.

* * *

 

“This her?” the boy couldn’t help but squint at the photo, finding nothing threatening about the girl’s pigtails and glasses as she stood beside Kogane.

His so-called boss nodded. “Yes, my source is reliable.”

“You sure we should be dragging her into this?” he asked, looking back up. “The only beef we have is with Kogane, after all.”

“Exactly.” The boss purred. “No better way to infuriate someone than by hitting close to the heart.” He plucked the photo back. “Can I trust you with this?”

Reluctantly, the other boy nodded.

“Consider it done.”

His boss’s smirk was chilling enough to curdle milk.

“ _Good_.” 

* * *

 Katie was greeted with a drafty breeze when reached the rooftop.

“Took you long enough.” Keith teased as she walked over to him.

The sky above them was blinding with mid-daylight, forcing Katie to squint. “Yeah, yeah.” she grumbled as she sat on the floor next to him and leaned on the wall behind them. “Any reason why you’re spending free period like a slice-of-life anime protagonist?”

“The teachers said that free period is supposed to be used for finishing up extra homework and club duties.” He leaned the back of his head on the wall as he glanced at her. “Already finished my homework.”

“And you haven’t joined a club yet.” Katie finished for him. She snorted. “Didn’t the guidance counselor talk to you about how extra-curic is a requirement?”

“I told her I’ll think about it.”

“And?”

“Haven’t found any club that peaks my interest.”

She nudged his side with her elbow. “Dude.”

“She gave me until the week before Final exams this semester to find a club.” He nudged her back. “How about you? How’s IT Club treating you?”

Katie groaned.  

Keith blinked. “That bad?”

“I haven’t slept in a week.” As if on cue, she let out a yawn.

“You were weak, you were awake?”

She threw him a look. “I regret showing you Hamilton.”

“No you don’t.” Keith flashed her a smirk. “You wouldn’t be able to do Guns and Ships without me as Washington.” He turned to her and put his hands on her shoulders then started pulling her toward him.

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t respond, only kept pulling until her head was on his lap and her legs were flat on the ground.

Katie tried to sit back up. “What the-“

“Sleep.” He ordered.

“But-“

“You’re tired. Just. Sleep.” Keith pushed her back down. “I’ll wake you up as well. I promise.”  

Eye-contact was a little hard to accomplish considering the awkward angle but they manage to hold a small staring contest.

Katie scowled at him.

Keith just stared back, bored.

With a sigh, she finally relented.

“Alright.”

.

.

.

She dozed off the second she closed her eyes.

.

.

.

Though she could’ve sworn she felt Keith run his fingers through her hair as she did.

.

.

.

When Katie woke up, she realized that she was more awake than she had been in the past three days.

_Caffeine nap,_ she mused. _Sleeping after drinking a caffeinated drink makes it more effective,_ she thought, mentally quoting an excerpt she read from a page when she looked up _how to get through the morning after an all-nighter_ on Google the other night.

And maybe the soft pillow under her head also had something to do with that.

At this, Katie turned her head just a fraction to an amusing sight.

Apparently, Keith had broken his promise.

He didn’t wake her up.

How could he, when he had fallen asleep as well?

_At least he looks peaceful_ , she thought.

He may scowl at the whole world but when he’s asleep he’s rendered innocent. A little vulnerable, even, with the way his breathing was light as it puffed from his nose, the gentle rise and fall of his shoulders and the long eyelashes that tickled his cheeks.  

Smiling, Katie reached up to tap his chin with her finger.

Slowly, he stirred, his hand moving to catch hers.

So he _was_ still a light sleeper.

It was only in the first week back to school that he was practically a rock considering the abrupt change to his body clock.

Katie watched as he blinked blearily before focusing back on her. He flashed her a small smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she parroted, smile still on her face.  

Suddenly the awkwardness of the angle wasn’t all too distracting.

There’s only the two of them, his hand still in her hair while the other was warm around her hand, and the noises from three stories below that were barely even loud enough to be considered noise.

There was suddenly a beep.

With a start, Katie pulled her hand out of Keith’s to reach for her phone in her coat pocket and turned it on.

“Class rep says we gotta sign attendance now.” She said, looking back up at Keith. The clock on her phone read a quarter to two in the afternoon. “We should go.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

Without another word, the two of them stood up and headed back to their classroom.

* * *

 “Did you get it?” Lance asked eagerly as Hunk got back down.

“Yes, I did. And for the record, _you’re welcome_.” He added dryly as he passed his phone over to his best friend.

“Any reason why we’re stalking our friends?” Hunk asked, scowling at the memory of entering the rooftop and only to duck behind the fire escape when Keith and Pidge started to stir awake.

Lance said nothing as he grinned at the photo on the screen. “This,” he lifted his hand and turned his wrist to show Hunk the picture of Keith and Pidge sleeping. “Is the stuff of blackmail, Hunk. Blackmail.”

“Now that’s just low, even for you.”

“I kid.” He pulled the phone back to himself to send it to his own phone before handing it back to Hunk. “They really are cute together, though.”

Hunk nodded.

“ _Definitely_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that took forever. Thanks for reading and see you next time! 
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](hearmyvoiceoftreason.tumblr.com)?


	5. Discoveries and Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein which Katie is a mentally preoccupied mess and Keith is too concerned for her liking.

Chapter 5: Discoveries & Darkness

Things were suddenly  _ different. _

And it bothered Katie to no end that she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly she meant by that.

They just  _ were _ .  

Normally, even the smallest changes in details would never  be  miss ed by her keen eye; she was a computer programmer, dammit. There was a reason why she was in charge of cleaning and going over the final script for the school website.

But now, Pidge found herself drawing up a blank.

The most she figured was that whatever it was, it wasn’t anything blatantly obvious. It was slower, more subtle  \-  like the change of the seasons as daylight started getting scarcer and scarcer and nights started earlier and earlier.

It wasn’t until you were walking home at five in the afternoon and it ’ s dark as pitch that you realize that fall was very well on its way.

However, Katie was nothing if not stubbornly inquisitive, and refused to wait until she got to that point in time for the realization to hit her.

So in an act of uncharacteristic stupidity, she chose  _ now _ to further dissect the thought as it probed in her skull and in the process blew out more present,  _ practical  _ matters.

Like the fact that the pedestrian light hadn’t turned green yet and that she was walking straight into early morning traffic.

.

.

.

There was the blur of her world shifting, and the sound of a car’s honking, a drag on her arm, and a stumble in her step. 

.

.

.

And her world sharpened when she felt Keith tighten his grip around her wrist.

She blinked once.

Twice.

Katie looked up to meet the disapproving look on Keith’s face that was more befitting of Shiro.

“Dude,”

“Huh?” was the only intelligible answer she could muster. 

He scowled at her. “You could have friggin  _ died _ .”

Katie rolled her eyes before looking back up at the pedestrian light. “I’m fine.”

Green.

Walk.

From her peripheral she noticed Keith rolling his eyes as well as he fell into step beside her. 

“Yeah,  _ now  _ you are since I just saved your ass. You’re welcome , ”  h e said dryly.

Guilt crept up Katie’s cheeks in an embarrassed flush. “Thanks,” she said, albeit a little stiff.

Keith was giving her his suspicious side-eye. “Is IT taking that much out of you?” his voice came out unfitting for the look he was giving her ; a warm tone in complete contrast to the icy questioning in his stare.

She shook her head. “Not really. I already cleaned up the final code for the other members to officially launch.” The pebble under her foot was given the misfortune to get kicked across the length of the sidewalk. Katie watched as it skidded to a stop when it collided with a fire hydrant before adding, “ a side from program tech support, I have nothing much on my plate.”

Keith still hadn’t dropped the look but it had grown warmer in genuine concern instead of interrogation.

“Something on your mind then?” he asked.

As he did he made the little gesture of tapping the back of her hand with the back of his.

It wasn’t much  \-  barely even felt  \-  but the message was clear, and it made Pidge stop walking to turn to him.

There was the smallest hint of a furrow between his brows and the ghost of a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth as he stopped as well.  

Keith was only looking out for her.

Yet for some reason, the idea was suddenly making Katie really uncomfortable.

Quickly, she shook her head. 

“No.”  S he made the move to continue their pace toward the school gate.

Keith took a second too long to follow.

“It’s nothing, I promise , ”  s he said, though her eyes were still straight ahead and blatantly avoiding how Keith still fixed his gaze on her.

If he had been disappointed at her answer, he didn’t say anything.

* * *

 

Even after almost getting killed while deep in thought, Katie still couldn’t shake it off.

Amidst her classes, she had managed to narrow down what she knew so far.

Yesterday during English she figured that whatever it was, it didn’t start until recently.

And now she realized it was most likely before or during midterm exams.

Pidge had to thank her brain for having the ability to juggle many thoughts at once.

“Katie, do you know the answer?”

Well, most of the time, at least.

And Pidge still found it in her to look sheepish as she stood up. “The Peloponnesian War?”

Mr. Ahn was nice enough to smile as he shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that’s the answer to something but I was looking more for the area of a cylinder.”

Oh. Today was Tuesday. Not World History MW.

Nice. 

A flush went up her face the second that week as her classmates chuckled around her.  

It must’ve brought them amusement to find out that even the girl at the top of their class had the tendency to space out and give out wrong answers in class. 

Ultimately, Pidge ended up rolling her eyes as she noticed everyone whispering in muted breaths.

_ She’s not as smart as thinks she is. _

_ That’s what she gets for being such a know-it-all. _

_ So much for being top of the class _ .

Just because she didn’t care what other people had to say didn’t mean that she didn’t  _ hear  _ what they had to say.

At this, Pidge opted to turn behind her, right to where Keith sat, hoping to find sympathy.

But instead of finding reassurance, Pidge was shaken to find Keith giving her the same concerned look he had when they had stopped in the middle of the street yesterday on the way to school.

She swallowed a lump in her throat before turning back to the board.

_ Focus, Katie _ .

* * *

 

“-idge? Earth to Pidge!”

Pidge blinked before turning to the sound of Lance’s voice.

“Huh?”

She looked up to find her friend half up his seat as he got up in her personal space.

His face was too close to hers for comfort, making Pidge swat him away.

Lance sat back down with a huff. “You were spacing out, man. I know realize it’s actually kinda creepy to watch you just sit there not responding to any of us.”

“Oh, I was?”

Hunk nodded. “I dunno about you, Pidge, but you’ve been really quiet lately. And that usually means two things.”

“What?” she demanded.

Lance spoke up. “You’re either thinking really hard or you’re more sleep deprived than usual.” He made the motion of gesturing with his hands and fingers for emphasis. 

“Or sometimes both,” Keith’s voice came from beside her.

Katie jammed her elbow into her best friend’s ribs with a huff.

“I am  _ not  _ deep in thought.”

From the corner of her eye, Keith was giving her the briefest of glances, unfazed by her blow.

“We’re just worried about you, Pidge , ” Shiro explained from the head of the table. “Last Monday you almost got hit by a car because you weren’t paying attention to the street lights.”

“Yeah and yesterday you answered a math equation with  _ the Peloponnesian War _ _ , _ _ ” _ Lance added. “Who even  _ does _ that?”

Katie felt her brows furrow.

“How did you know about that?”

Shiro rarely ever walked to school with her and Keith anymore, and none of them were in her class.

There was no way they could have known of those random slip ups.

_ Unless _ …

Pidge whirred on Keith so fast her glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose. “What the  _ fuck _ Keith!”

“Language , ” Shiro’s warning was left ignored as she glowered.

Keith only scowled. “They  _ had _ to know.”

“I only got almost run over  _ once _ .” 

“Yeah, but chances are if you keep spacing out the way you are now there might as well be a second time. Or a third.”

“One day you’re gonna end up walking into a pole and get knocked out in the middle of the street or something like that , ” Hunk chimed in.

Pidge turned to her friends with another huff. “Guys, you don’t have to make such a big deal about this.”

“ We’re just worried about you,” Shiro said gently. “If anything is on your mind, you do realize you could tell us, right?”

“Yeah!” Lance said.  

“It’s just…” Katie started. “…it’s finals. I’m a lot more stressed out than I thought I would be.”

Well, it wasn’t the truth but it wasn’t a total lie either.

Her friends seemed to buy as much.

.

.

.

All except Keith, who kept his stare on her as the others offered reassurances and nods of understanding.

.

.

.

She turned to him for the briefest of seconds.

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ Please believe me _ .

.

.

.

Keith turned back down to his own meal and nudged his knee onto hers.

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ Alright, I believe you _ .

.

.

.

The action, in all its friendly intentions, shouldn’t have relieved her as much as it did.

* * *

 

“You do realize you can’t fool me, right?” Keith asked on their way back to their classroom after the warning bell sounded.

She threw him a scowl.

He blinked back, unimpressed. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Katie breathed out a sigh and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know either.”

At this, he stopped walking. “Seriously?”

She didn’t bother stopping with him and walked towards the door. “Yes, seriously.”

“So you’ve only been trying to figure out what it was?” he asked as he caught up with her.

_ Bullseye _ .

Katie nodded stiffly, this time she’s the one to stop in her tracks. “I’ll tell you when I figure it out, I promise.”

He nodded back, then proceeded to open the door for her.

“Alright.” Keith nodded again, this time to the entrance. “Ladies first.”

Pidge rolled her eyes.

She was the farthest thing from a lady, but the gesture was appreciated in full earnest as she entered their classroom.

.

.

.

It was only when Katie got back to her seat that she realized she had been blushing.  __

* * *

 

What most people didn’t know about Keith was the fact that while he rarely ever studied for the other subjects, he was actually naturally adept at numbers and was a math nerd.

Like, a really huge math nerd.

Being a tech junkie herself Pidge found nothing wrong with his… _fixation,_ but that didn’t mean she fully understood his babbling whenever he got really into the topic. 

For the first time in a long time, they were at  _ her  _ place instead of at the Castle or his, poured over their math worksheets that late Thursday afternoon and trying to finish up the last questions before grabbing dinner.  

“And if you derive that…” she barely heard Keith mutter as he continued to scribble on her mini-whiteboard. “That’s it , ”  h e finished, boxing his final answer as he lifted the board up for her to see.

Katie raised a brow.

“That’s it?” 

She gave his procedure another once-over.

It made sense, sure, but at the same time…

Keith may be her best friend and he may trust him enough to get the right kind of pads during emergencies but that wasn’t enough for her to trust him with their final grades.

She squinted.

“I don’t know Keith, it’s easier, sure, but,” she paused to find the words. “It’s… _ too  _ easy.”

He actually had the audacity to look confused. “I thought that was the point of us going over alternative solutions.”  

“Yeah, but when it comes to math if it comes  _ too  _ easy you’re most likely wrong.”

“Not this time.”

“Keith,”

“What are the odds?”

“That this could cost us our final exam grades? Want me to do the math?”  S he lifted her notebook off her lap in emphasis.

“Pidge,”

“Look, Keith,” her hand dropped and the notebook in it fell onto her lap with a soft rustle. “I just think we should really look into this more by asking Matt.”

_ Which was kind of impractical since he was staying late at cram school again. _

“I already looked it over and consulted Hunk and Shiro.”

Pidge couldn’t help but remain unconvinced.

Keith gave her a look.

“Come on, Pidge trust me.”

_ Well _ …

Katie spared a glance at Keith, then at the board he was still holding up, then back up to him.

_ If you could trust a guy to buy you pads, I guess you could trust them with anything. _

Sighing, she nodded.

“Alright.”

Keith grinned, almost as if in victory. “Wasn’t too hard, now?”

She didn’t hesitate to chuck one of the living room pillows at him.

“Yeah, yeah.”

His grin only grew wider and cockier as he caught it with ease.

.

.

.

Katie couldn’t help but smile back.

* * *

 

A sheet of answered problems and few arguments about formulas and final answers in Iverson’s conditions later, they both found themselves sprawled on the couch, half brain dead and exhausted.

_ Stupid math _ .

Keith had his head on Katie’s lap, arguing that the pillows were too flat for elevation, and in all honesty, she was too exhausted to argue with him again.

So instead Pidge opted to slump into the cushions as the smell of dinner started to waft down on them from the kitchen.

_ Mom was making ribs. Bless her.  _

Pidge looked back down to the head on her lap. “Your hair’s getting shaggy , ”  s he murmured, tangling her fingers with the fringe of hair that went over Keith’s forehead.

“Yeah, yeah,” he half-heartedly attempted to swat her hand away.

But she was nothing if not was relentless with her tactile scrutiny of the mess Keith dared to call his hair. She wrinkled her nose upon coming across a knot. “You should at least tie your hair back.” She released his hair to reach for her bag on the floor.

Keith sat up with a yawn as he watched her dig into the front pockets for an extra hair tie.

Her hand emerged from her bag with a bundle of them. She untangled one from the rest before handing it to Keith.

“Here.”

“Katie? Keith? Dinner is ready!” her mother’s voice called.

“We’ll be right there , ” Katie called back, turning to the general direction of the kitchen.

She turned back to Keith and, with unspoken unison, they extracted themselves from the couch.

Well, almost in unison.

Pidge found her actions delayed by a microsecond and decided not to entertain the question of why and how he knew how to tie his hair back despite never actually having done it before.

Maybe he picked it up from watching her do it enough times.

Or something like that.

The question was left ignored when she fully processed the image before her.

Katie had always known that Keith was kind of good-looking, but she never really entertained the thought until now.

Especially with his hair brushed back from his face, giving her a perfect view of his strong jawline and cheekbones.

“Something wrong?” Keith’s voice piped in.

Pidge quickly shook her head.

“It’s nothing.”

A s she saw off Keith’s form as he padded into the dining area, only one thought seemed to occupy her conscience.

.

.

.

What the actual  _ fuck _ .

* * *

 

Friday afternoon that week had her beat.  

Between having to cover for an absent IT Club member for that day’s general assembly and being reminded over and over again about the impending doom that was finals in the form of not one but  _ three  _ pop quizzes that morning, Pidge was sure her brain was ready to collapse like a dying star in the confines of her skull.

She had also just gone back from an impromptu meeting with Mr. Iverson regarding  _ revisions  _ (read: complete redesign) for the school website’s interface, making her a bit of a grumpy mess.

_ Stupid Iverson. Stupid finals. Stupid school.    _

It also didn’t help that Keith was  _ again  _ stuck at the guidance counselor’s for an update regarding his return to school and his still very apparent lack of club activities, leaving her to suffer alone.  

Her actions were mechanical as she opened the door to her classroom and marched up to her desk. By now majority of her classmates had already gone home or were out on the field practicing for sports.

She let out a grumble as she (gently) shoved her laptop into its compartment in her backpack.

“Oh, Pidge!”

Katie turned to the call of her name. The voice had belonged to Liz, the girl who sat about two seats forward from where she did.

Also someone she rarely ever spoke to.  

“Oh hey, what’s up?”

She watched as Liz zipped up her own bag and slung the straps over her shoulders. “Someone said Keith was looking for you?”

“Who? Lance?”

Liz only shrugged. “Not sure. Just overheard from Bryce who heard from Oscar who overheard from I don’t even know anymore. Maybe Lance, like you said. He said to meet you on the roof?”

Katie’s face twisted in confusion. “Why couldn’t he have just texted me then?”

Liz shrugged again. “I dunno. But you know how word gets around.” She moved to push her chair back. “Anyways I gotta go to choir practice. See you tomorrow!”

The other girl barely managed a wave back before Liz went out the door.

_ Stupid Keith. _

Pidge turned to the seat behind hers, finding Keith’s bag still on his desk.

Her bag was already heavy enough as is. Also, he didn’t say anything about bringing his bag for him so maybe she could get away with leaving their stuff in the classroom.

Without another thought, Katie made a beeline for the door and headed up.  

* * *

 

It was a lot windier on the roof than she expected.

“Keith?” Katie asked as soon as she opened the door.

There was only silence.

“Keith?” she tried again. 

Still no answer. 

“Hunk? Lance?” 

Pide rolled her eyes when she was ignored a third time.  

Really? 

A ding dong ditch on the roof?  

Were they still stuck in fourth grade? 

Katie padded deeper into the roof terrace.  “Alright guys, this isn’t funny.” 

There was a thud behind her. 

“What the-“

She wasn’t able to finish the sentence when arms roughly grabbed her from behind and a sack was thrown over her head.

Katie struggled to break free. “Get- the _ fuck _ – off me-“

A hand suddenly emerged from under the sack to press a rag to her face.

The smell.

.

.

.

Katie only realized what it was when it was already too late.

.

.

.

Chloroform.

.

.

.

“ _ Shit. _ ”

.

.

.

The curse was barely a breath of her lips as it came out.  

.

.

.

And then the world blacked away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. 
> 
> I know that this was hella overdue but it was only because I was determined to post this simultaneously with my Chapter 1 rewrite. From here and the next three chapters I'll be posting double updates: a reconstruct of a previous chapter and a new one. Hope ya'll enjoy! 
> 
> Also, a big shoutout to my girl [narycanary](http://archiveofourown.org/users/NaryCanary) for beta reading both this chapter and the Chapter 1 rewrite please check out her stuff she's amazing.


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